When you look at your stories in hindsight, you can see what parts are good and what parts are bad. I think it takes a little bit of bad to make the good look even better. Or in the case of this chapter, some risky and jarringly different things to make events later seem better. I guess we'll just have to see.


Chapter 7: Second Act of the Fading Future

Hinata stood on the roof of her home with a longing look towards the sky. Her eyes were closed as she felt the wind beating against her, whipping her short but cute hair in all directions. She had spent the night at Ichiraku's that previous night, but had made it home early. At least, early enough for her father and sister not to question her whereabouts. Her thoughts were on that morning however. After she got another quick nap in, she felt far more refreshed than usual. It was strange because she hadn't even dreamed that night, and she was sure she would have dreamed about Naruto.

She opened her eyes at the thought and frowned a bit. She had hoped to spend time with Naruto the previous day because she would have to spend most of her time with her own team that day. After her talk with Ayame, she was more than ready to admit her feelings to Naruto, for better or worse. Although she didn't know where her confidence was coming from, she was sure she would not lose it anytime soon. Something about that day made Hinata feel like she would need all the confidence she could have.

"Nee-san, get down here! Father and the elders have summoned us!" Hanabi's condescending voice rang from the grounds below Hinata. Hinata opened her eyes and saw the same superior smirk on Hanabi's face that was usually worn by Neji as well. Hinata wanted to frown sadly at her sister, or to at least let her know not to act like that. Instead, Hinata glared at her sister. Hanabi obviously saw it as her smirk vanished and was replaced with shock. Then just as fast, it was replaced with anger. "How dare you glare at me? I'm going to make sure I humiliate you good in front of the elders today! This time they will really denounce you and make me heir of the clan like I should be! Not a weakling like you!"

Hanabi stormed back into the house after her outburst. Instead of mortifying Hinata like she thought it would, Hanabi's taunts only enraged her. She jumped down from the roof of the house and landed right where Hanabi had been standing, a feat that Hinata had never performed before. Two side branch Hyuga saw and gasped at the scene. Hinata looked to them and then smiled just as she usually did. However, she gave them no words of kindness as was usual and immediately turned her gaze towards the house. As she began to head for the elders chambers, she frowned.

'What's gotten into me? Why did I glare at imouto like that? And how did I land a jump that big like it was nothing?' Hinata scratched her cheek absentmindedly as she thought about it. 'I have to calm down. Hanabi-chan doesn't know what's she's saying...'

Part of Hinata believed it, like always. However, another part of her just grew angry again at the thought of how Hanabi always treated her, when she was the big sister. Hanabi was 7 going on 8. She would be entering into the academy later that year. Hanabi was old enough to think for herself, regardless of what their father and the elders put into her head. A growl escaped Hinata's throat as she reached the elders chamber. Her eyes widened at the sound, as she had never made it before in her life. Even more, a part of her liked it.

Taking a deep breath to get her bearings, Hinata slid open the door and entered into the elders chamber. It was a large room with large torch stands placed all around. Incenses burned from the torch stands instead of fire, giving the room a dark and smoky atmosphere. Hinata was used to the smell, as it was the same incense she and Hanabi had to use to meditate.

In front of her, Hinata saw the three elders. Just some old Hyuga men whom thought they knew everything, and that old tradition beat common sense any day. Her father sat on a ceremonial pillow on a stand above them. Hanabi was kneeling on a small pillow that was set in front of the elders. Another was set next to her for Hinata.

"You're late. I sent Hanabi for you ten minutes ago." Her father spoke with annoyance in his voice and on his face.

"Forgive me father, but Hanabi-chan only retrieved me several seconds ago." Hinata spoke with a neutral tone and poker face, for the first time showing no emotion like a Hyuga was supposed to. Hiashi would have told her to not make excuses, but noticing the look on her face interested him and he didn't comment on her tardiness any further.

"Snitch..." Hanabi mumbled as Hinata knelt next to her. Hinata had the urge to respond with another word that rhymed with 'snitch', but decided against it. Her eyes narrowed again as something inside her made her look forward to the contest she knew the elders and her father were about to impose on them.

"Hinata, Hanabi," One of the elders began speaking. "As you know, twice a month, you two are pit against each other in a display of skill and honor in hopes that you two as sisters and as-"

"Just get on with it!" Hinata snapped up, her byakugan flaring. That time, she hadn't held back the impulse inside of her. Not that she could anyway. Something was bubbling inside of her, something she was afraid of. Once again she scratched her cheek in annoyance.

Hanabi looked at her sister and sneered. "You're that much in a hurry to get floored again?"

Hinata did not say anything, her brow and fingers twitching in both annoyance and anticipation. She wanted to make Hanabi eat her words badly. Hiashi's gaze was still on Hinata, however, instead of a bored expression, one could see the vague traces of a worried frown.

Another elder continued. "As you wish Lady Hinata. You two may stand." They did as ordered. "Face your opponent and activate your byakugan." The two sisters faced each other, activating their byakugan. While Hanabi still wore her arrogant smile, Hinata looked upon her sister with no emotions at all. However, Hiashi could see the chakra forming in her hands already. "Show your honor and begin."

Hinata and Hanabi made the seal of honor before leaping back away from each other. Hanabi took her fighting stance, the traditional jyuken. However, Hinata merely stood with her arms to her side and her eyes set on her little sister. Hanabi's smirk became even more condescending.

"What, are you too afraid to fight now? Or do you know you won't win?" Hanabi grinned and then hopped forward on her left foot, and then quickly to the right.

'Was that supposed to be a feint?' Hinata thought and shook her head with a sigh. Hanabi did not notice but Hiashi did.

Hanabi kicked forward with her hand cocked back, intent on striking Hinata down with one blow. As she reached her sister, she thrust her palm...and struck nothing. Hinata had simply turned her body aside, letting Hanabi's hand fly right under the shadows of her breast. Hanabi looked surprised that Hinata had dodged, as did the elders. Hiashi merely frowned even more and watched silently.

Hanabi turned and sent another strike aiming for Hinata's chest but Hinata side stepped again. Turning on her heel, Hanabi struck towards Hinata's face just to have Hinata bend her head to the left. Hanabi struck with her opposite hand towards her face again and Hinata bent her head to the right. Hanabi growled and jumped away from her sister.

"Stop moving you stupid worthless piece of trash!" Hanabi spat. Seeing the shocked look on Hinata's face, Hanabi knew she had her now. With a dark grin, Hanabi put all of her energy into another attack and dashed forward, her palm aimed at Hinata's heart. She thrust forward and felt something hit her palm. However, it was much too small to be Hinata's body. A quick glance at her hand showed that Hinata had stopped Hanabi's strike with only a single finger.

Looking up at the face of her sister, Hanabi saw that the look of shock had passed. Instead, she saw an expression on her sisters face that she had never seen before, nor that she would ever want to see again. It was a look of pure hatred. Hanabi's mouth fell open and her eyes shown fear as her byakugan deactivated. However, she didn't even get a chance to call out her sisters name before she felt a powerful blow to her chest. The next instance had her flying over the ground and smashing into one of the torch stands, breaking through it like it was made of toothpicks. Her body hit the wooden wall, splintering the wood so loud, Hanabi thought she had broken some bones in her body. As she collapsed to the ground with the most pain being in her chest, she knew she hadn't.

She wheezed to take in air but her lungs hurt like crazy. Plus something salty kept getting in her mouth. After a moment, she realized it was her tears. She was crying? She hadn't cried since she was a baby! A jolt of pain in her chest made her cringe and cry more and she lost sight of everything else around her.

Lucky for Hanabi as she would not hear or see what was about to happen next. Hinata looked at her little sister as she cringed and writhed on the ground, holding her chest and sobbing. The sight of it only made Hinata angrier.

"Worthless..." Hinata whispered as she began to fall into the jyuken stance. "Trash..." Her voice was low, but came out harsher with each word. "I'm sick of it! I'm sick of you and father and the stupid elders and Neji-nii looking down on me all the time! I'm sick of it, sick of it, sick of it!" Hinata had been building chakra in her hands for as long as she was speaking. With her last words, she flung herself forward, clearing the space between her and Hanabi with a single jump. Coming down with a single palm to end Hanabi's writhing, Hinata caught sight of her father's movement from the corner of her eyes.

She pulled back at the last second as Hiashi had jumped in between Hanabi and herself. Hinata landed barely two feet from Hiashi.

"HINATA! Pull yourself together and calm down! You have won!" Hiashi called.

Hinata looked at her father with blurred eyes, even with the byakugan. Her chest heaved as she took in deep breaths that steadily got more and more erratic.

"GYAAH!" Hinata shouted out and rushed her father, much to his and the elders surprise. Hiashi activated his byakugan and moved to the side of Hinata's first strike. She did just as Hanabi and spun on her heel, aiming a strike at Hiashi's chest. Hiashi deflected the blow as it was faster than he expected to dodge, and then moved aside again, putting a small bit of distance between them. He was trying to lead Hinata away from Hanabi, lest she accidentally, or intentionally, hurt her further.

"Hinata! Why are you so angry? You have bested your sister, showing that she is the weak one! We see that you are strong! You are worthy of the Hyuga!" Hiashi spoke calmly, hopping to break through to his enraged daughter. His words, however, only proved to push Hinata's growing rage over the edge.

"SHE IS NOT WEAK! SHE IS THE WAY SHE IS BECAUSE OF YOU BASTARDS!" Hinata screamed and to everyone's horror, flared her chakra. The elders had not activated their byakugan and realized this was reason for alarm. Hinata's chakra was clearly visible about her body, and even worse, it was a deep tint of dark blue, whereas normal chakra was light blue. Hinata's eyes also seemed to tint with a hint of lavender. "I WANT TO BE WORTHY OF MOTHER, NOT YOU!"

Hinata flashed forward, feinting to Hiashi's left, but he saw her on his right. He was taken by surprise by the movement. It was as if she were flowing like water around him. He felt a strike to his back, shutting off tenketsu. Then another to his ribs. Three to his left arm. Knowing where the next strikes would be coming from, Hiashi turned and used his right arm to catch Hinata's strike, just an inch from his heart. Her eyes widened as Hiashi was breathing deeply, sweat pouring from his face. The look on Hinata's face let Hiashi know she had come back to her senses. He let her go and dropped to a knee.

"How dare you attack the clan head so viciously!" One of the elders bellowed while standing up.

"SHUT UP!" Hiashi yelled. Hinata looked between her father, the elders, and Hanabi, whom was now sitting up against the wall and looking at Hinata with terror in her eyes. The sight of them all began to make the feeling of resentment build inside of her again and she scratched her cheek in irritation. She noticed it was itching worse than before. It was wet too.

Just as Hanabi, Hinata hadn't realized she had started crying.

"Hinata..." Hiashi called his daughter and his voice made her flinch. With a painful howl, Hinata turned and bolted from the room.


Hinata ran out of the main house, and right into someone else she hadn't expected, nor wanted, to see at that moment. She looked up with tears still staining her face at the visage of her cousin, Neji. The glare he leveled at her reminded Hinata of what she had just done and she looked away before the anger in her could rise again.

"Excuse me, Hina-" Before Neji could finish his words, Hinata threw her arms around Neji's neck and cried into his shoulder, howling with all the pain that she had been planning to unleash on Hanabi and Hiashi. She squeezed Neji tightly, not caring if he were trying to push her away or not.

Neji was too shocked to do anything. He simply stood there, his eyes wide and mouth parted slightly. 'What...what is the meaning of this?' He could only think in fear. Hinata's hug was powerful, yet as warm as the last hug that he had received from his father. The amount of pain that he could sense radiating from her made his own suffering seem like a petty grievance. So instead of pushing her away, he just stood there, arms to his side and his gaze down. After a few more seconds, Neji resisted the urge to move her away and spoke. "Are you done yet, Hinata-sama?" His voice didn't have the edge that it usually did when he addressed her.

Hinata didn't respond right away. Only a bit later did she let go of Neji, her face facing the ground. She was reduced to sniffles as she looked up into Neji's eyes. He still wore his same passive look, but the hate that Hinata usually saw wasn't there. Maybe it was just suppressed for the moment. "Neji-nii..." She whispered. "Is this...what hatred feels like?" She asked.

Neji's eyes widened again at her words. That's when he saw Hiashi limping towards them with his left arm in a sling. He walked with his cane, but looked as if he truly did need it. "Hiashi-sama..." Neji spoke and saw Hinata's eyes widen and her body tense at the name. Neji moved forwards, putting himself between Hinata and Hiashi. "Is there something wrong Hiashi-sama?" He asked.

Hiashi saw how Neji moved protectively in front of Hinata and paused.

"I wish to speak with my daughter. Please leave us be."

Neji frowned and looked back at Hinata. He saw the look of pain in her eyes and frowned even more.

Hinata didn't understand what was going on. Why was Neji looking at her like that? Why did it seem like he was defending her from her father?

"If it is alright with you, Hiashi-sama, I wish to have a quick word with Hinata-sama before you do. Please, it will only take a moment." Neji asked.

"It will have to wait, Neji-" Before Hiashi could finish speaking, Neji grabbed Hinata's hand and began to run.

Hinata stumbled from the first few steps but regained her balance and began to run with her cousin. "N-Neji-nii, what are you doing?"

"You did not wish to speak with him." He simply said.

"B-but, why are you helping me?" Hinata asked.

Neji glanced at Hinata out of the corner of his eyes, looking into her eyes again. Confirming what he had saw earlier, he answered her. "Because you're eyes know hatred Hinata-sama. You have done something I thought impossible. You have changed against fate itself."


Hiashi watched as his daughter and nephew made their getaway. He was shocked into silence for several moments, however, his visage softened just a bit as what happened slowly sunk in. Neji was protecting Hinata from him. The act in itself let Hiashi know that something was changing within the Hyuga family, something big. He knew of the disdain that Neji held towards the main branch, and he knew of the hatred that he directed at Hinata. Hiashi had paid it no mind generally, believing Neji to be a nuisance of a child almost as much as Hinata. Dare to say that he had actually encouraged Neji's loathing of his daughter; A thought that he found extremely profound and disgraceful.

Turning to enter back into the main manor, Hiashi heard the voices of the elders crying out and complaining in rage. He entered the chamber to find Hanabi sitting where she had been struck down, her knees pulled up to her chest and a look of sheer horror still on her face. The elders were arguing amongst each other, and Hiashi opted to tune them out for the most part. Instead, he headed towards his youngest daughter and knelt before her. Hanabi looked up into her father's eyes and flinched, coiling in on herself even further.

"I-I'm s-sorry tou-sama! I didn't mean to b-be weak! Please don't hurt me anymore!" Hanabi stammered out quickly as tears began to storm down her cheeks once again. She put her head down and held her hands above her head, sobbing hysterically at the beating she believed she would receive.

Hiashi's frown deepened at the display in front of him. His daughters truly feared him. Not respect or love. It was fear. He wanted to question how this had come to be, but Hiashi was smart enough to see his own transgressions. As he stayed kneeling before Hanabi, Hiashi began to think of exactly what it was that had happened. After thinking not only of the days events, but the events from the passing of Hinata and Hanabi's mother, Hiashi finally opened his eyes.

He had broken his daughters.

Hinata had finally snapped under the pressure that he had put her under. She was always emotionally fragile, just like her mother, and Hiashi did not cater to that like he should have. Hanabi was a tender child as well, and Hiashi had purposefully stripped her emotions away while she was young, as to not have a repeat of Hinata or his wife. With dread falling onto the deepest part of his soul, mainly because of seeing his wife's face and how she would have cried herself to sleep with the way he had been raising their daughters, Hiashi stood up slowly. The weight of his transgressions were slowly piling onto him the more and more he thought about it.

"I'm sorry Hanabi." He whispered to the cowering girl, though she made no indication that she had heard him. Turning as swiftly as his sore body would allow, Hiashi turned his sharp gaze on the elders. "SILENCE YOU MISERABLE FOOLS!"

The elders jumped from the outburst and even Hanabi looked up in shock.

"Hiashi-sama, we apologize for not stepping in when that wretched daughter of yours attacked you!" One of the elders spoke.

"Indeed! We will see to it that that ingrate get's a severe punishment!" The female elder shook her old fist.

Hiashi slammed the butt of his cane into the ground with an audible bang that rung through the chamber. "There will be no such punishment! Hinata is to be pardoned of all misgrievances to my person and to Hanabi as of immediately. She has done nothing wrong. As well, I am calling a clan wide meeting to be held tomorrow at noon sharp. ALL members, including the side branch families are to attend, regardless of chores to be done. I expect no one, not even you elders, to be tardy. Do I make myself clear?"

The elders could only nod dumbly at Hiashi's proclamations. Filing out one after the other, the elders departed to notify the main and side branches. With only himself and his daughter left, Hiashi took a deep breath and for the first time in years, smiled sincerely. "Hanabi, come with me please."

The youngest Hyuga had been entranced by the scene and she didn't know how to react at first. However, on instinct maybe, she jumped to her feet without further hesitation in fear of what her father would do to her if she dallied. Hiashi took note of it and fell even further into despair.

The two began to traverse the main manor in silence. Hiashi took slow strides and Hanabi walked with her head down, trying her hardest not to even breathe too loudly. However, the small Hyuga's thoughts lied with her sister. After everything that she'd been taught by her father and the elders, she had truly believed herself stronger than her sister both physically and emotionally. There were the rare few occasions in which Hanabi questioned whether they were treating her sister right or not, but she was always ensured that Hinata was weak and an embarrassment to the Hyuga clan. Her sister had proved today that she definitely wasn't weak. Even worse, Hanabi saw rage and hatred in Hinata for the first time ever. That thought alone terrified Hanabi to the core. She had never even dreamed that Hinata was capable of anger or especially hatred. The amount of rage and loathing Hinata emitted that day honestly made Hanabi almost piss herself. Even worse, the look in Hinata's eyes showed that she truly would have struck Hanabi down too. Her own sister had tried to kill her. Her sweet, caring, nurturing sister.

Hiashi stopped walking and Hanabi did on instinct. Being snapped from her thoughts, she looked up to see that they were standing in front of a room in which Hanabi knew to be banned from entering to everyone except for Hiashi and the Hokage himself. Even the elders were not allowed inside. "T-Tou-sama...?"

"Hanabi. Please open the door." Hiashi stepped aside.

The young Hyuga looked up at her father in confusion, her fear slowly diminishing. Hesitantly, she reached for the sliding panel and slowly moved the door aside. The moment she saw the large picture hanging opposite her position, her breathing stopped.

"Hanabi...that is your mother."


Naruto immediately explained to Jiraiya what he had just saw in his vision. It may have been of a past event, but the voice from before had spoken to him afterward. Jiraiya was a believer by now and assured Naruto that he would get to Ibiki and Anko and warn them to keep a closer eye on Mizuki while he was captive. Naruto wanted to go do more, but Jiraiya advised him to stay at the training ground and alert Kakashi when he arrived.

"This sucks..." Naruto groaned as he paced the grounds around the tree. "What the hell type of vision was that anyway? It was of the past, not the future! And it was something that didn't happen! How can something that's not meant to be changed be different already? It's even before Kurama gave me his tail and I started seeing the future! I just don't get it!"

Naruto's fist clenched as he became more and more frustrated as his thoughts confused him. For a moment, he debated on going back into his mind to speak with Kurama and his parents, but Kakashi arrived in a swirl of leaves with Sasuke and Sakura. When Sakura laid eyes on Naruto, she blushed and looked away. Sasuke was just Sasuke.

"Good, you're already here Naruto!" Kakashi called as if he hadn't seen Naruto at all that day.

"What is this about Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, though Naruto noticed her voice was a bit hoarse, almost as if she had been crying recently.

"I'm going to up your training. Aside from the regular D-rank missions we'll still be doing, I'm going to teach you all more advanced things. Taijutsu, genjutsu, and even a little ninjutsu." Kakashi explained seriously. Sasuke's eyes lit up at the sound of advanced training.

"It's about time! This is exactly what I need." Sasuke thought about his brother, and both Naruto and Kakashi knew it. For a moment, Kakashi hesitated on his statements. Their training was also going to have to bring Sasuke down from his revenge high.

Naruto cleared his throat, but knew Kakashi would understand that he was trying to get his attention. Kakashi nodded slightly, to let him know he had acknowledged him.

"For now, I'm going to talk to you all one on one so I can get a perfect feel for what each of you specifically need to work on. Naruto, how about you first? Sakura, Sasuke, wait for us here." Kakashi walked over to Naruto and was about to shunshin them over to the memorial stone, but not before Sasuke called out.

"Why does he get to go first? Advanced training is going to benefit me more than it will the dobe!" Sasuke didn't mean to sound arrogant, completely. For all intents and purposes, he honestly believed what he said.

"Sasuke-kun, the longer you hold them up, the longer it will take to start the training." Sakura said to everyone's surprise. She wasn't really looking towards anyone either. She seemed to be in deep thought.

"I...fine, whatever." Sasuke grumbled and folded his arms. "Just don't take forever with all of your weaknesses dobe."

Naruto flipped Sasuke the bird right before Kakashi shunshined them to the memorial stone.

"Alright Naruto, what's the matter?" Kakashi asked. Naruto looked across the way to see that Sasuke was storming off to sit down but Sakura just stood still, glancing back towards the village every now and again.

Seeing that neither were trying to get close enough to listen, Naruto explained what he had just told Jiraiya about Iruka.

"It was the same voice that spoke to me when I attacked you before the bell test started. I told you I hadn't wanted to move, but my body did on its own." Naruto finished explaining.

Kakashi looked back over towards Sakura and Sasuke again to see Sakura standing near Sasuke now. The two seemed to be having an actual conversation. With a sigh, he glanced back at Naruto. "Naruto, I just came from the hospital."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "What were you doing there?"

"It's where I found Sakura. Ino was hospitalized after a nasty fall at her family's flower shop and Sakura stayed with her." Kakashi saw the look of worry on Naruto's face and he waved a hand. "Don't worry, Inoichi-san said she will be fine." Kakashi lied.

In the back of Naruto's mind, he could have swore he heard Ino's voice screaming 'That's a load of bull shit!'. Kakashi continued.

"Anyway, I saw that Mizuki was still hospitalized after the beating you gave him. We can go check on his condition after training if you would like." Kakashi finished.

Naruto was even more confused now. How could Mizuki be dangerous if he was still hospitalized. Had his vision been wrong? Or was it just his overactive imagination playing tricks on him. This whole future sight business was starting to make him paranoid.

"Yeah...just to be sure. Plus I want to visit Ino-chan too." He added as an afterthought.

"Ino-chan now?" Kakashi teased. Naruto blushed and flipped his sensei the bird next.

"Screw you Kakashi-sensei, I'm just confused right now. Anyway, you should get Sasuke and Sakura over here now. Sakura was right, we're wasting valuable time that you could be using to train those two."

"Oh? I said I would be training you too Naruto." Kakashi eye smiled. "I am your sensei still by the way."

"I know, but training them should take priority. I can handle myself for now, and I would love to train with you, but getting Sasuke and Sakura ready for the trip to Wave and the Chunin Exams is way more important." Naruto spoke seriously, letting Kakashi know that all jokes were done. Kakashi nodded in agreement.

"I understand Naruto. What will you do today then?"

"I'll go talk to ero-sennin about what you said and find out when we'll be starting my sage training. Then I'll go tell Iruka-sensei about my vision and then come back here. We can still go to the hospital to check on Mizuki-teme, and I'm sure Sakura will want to go back to be with Ino afterward too."

Kakashi smiled at Naruto's mature prioritization. He could easily go to the hospital on his own to check on both Mizuki and Ino. But he put the most important things first, knowing that he would be able to check on them later. "Alright then Naruto. Get going. I'll just tell Sakura and Sasuke I sent you to get some new supplies before we could start your training."

"Great, and make them think I'm even more incompetent. Thanks a lot sensei."

"You're very welcome Naruto!" Kakashi eye smiled and shunshined back over to Sasuke and Sakura.

For the last time, Naruto flipped his sensei the bird.


The first place Naruto went to was the Konoha public bath. To his surprise, the Toad Sannin wasn't there. Taking a moment to think about where else the old man could be, Naruto skeptically went to the ANBU HQ. Before he had even made it part way to the path that went alongside the base of Hokage mountain, an ANBU stopped him.

"Where are you going Uzumaki-san?" It was a woman with a Neko mask and purple hair.

"Hello Yugao-chan, I'm here to meet Jiraiya-sensei for important business." Naruto spoke calmly and held back a smirk as he saw the Neko masked woman flinch at hearing her name. She hesitated for a moment before responding.

"Please refrain from using names Uzumaki-san, and I cannot allow you to go any further. I was not notified that you would be coming, nor are any genin allowed in this vicinity anyway." She kept her professionalism up. Naruto was impressed she didn't lose her cool at him calling her real name. She didn't even reveal that the path he was on indeed led to the ANBU HQ. She was a bonafide ANBU, noted especially since he could see the kunai she had drawn in case he wasn't who he claimed to be.

Naruto began to remember why he knew Yugao so well and then frowned sadly. 'Oh yeah, she's Hayate-sensei's girlfriend.' Naruto's mood dropped a bit as he remembered that Hayate died in the Sound Invasion a few months from then. The sickly chunin had also been a secret ANBU just like Iruka and had performed his duty admirably. Unfortunately, unlike the Hokage, his being was not immortalized.

"Uzumaki-san, I must ask you to please leave at once." Yugao called as she saw Naruto begin daydreaming.

Naruto looked up, but smiled as he saw Jiraiya walking along the path beyond them. "It's alright, here comes Jiraiya-sensei now."

Jiraiya took note of Naruto and the ANBU and sighed. "He wasn't giving you any trouble was he Neko-chan?"

Yugao knelt down with a single fist on the ground in front of Jiraiya. "No Jiraiya-sama, he simply just wanted access to the area beyond here. Forgive me if I was supposed to allow him through."

"It's fine, the brat shouldn't be wandering. You should've scared him a bit." Jiraiya smirked at the look on Naruto's face. If looks could kill...

"Screw you pervy sage, and thanks for being so nice Yugao-chan! I'll see you later!" Naruto called as he and Jiraiya began walking back towards the main streets of Konoha. Yugao looked after Naruto and frowned behind her mask.

'How does he know me? This could be bad...' She thought before she shunshined back to her hidden post.

Jiraiya waited until he and Naruto were a good distance from prying ears before asking, "What the hell were you doing back there gaki?"

Naruto folded his arms with a serious expression. "It's a little test. Me and Yugao weren't supposed to meet each other yet. I want to see what will happen now that we've met early and she knows that I know her name. You know, that whole domino effect thing you were talking about."

"Naruto, be careful with that. The things you do can have negative effects on the future as well."

Naruto nodded in understanding, but he still wanted to test his theories. The best way to saving the future was being able to control how it changed, he realized. And the only way to do that was to practice making things happen. It scared him, especially since one big mistake could cause everything to go wrong, but it was truly the only option he had.

"What were you doing at the ANBU HQ anyway?" Jiraiya questioned, though Naruto noticed his face had taken on just a small bit of worry.

"I wanted to tell you that Mizuki-teme is in the hospital still, not in ANBU custody."

Jiraiya rose an eyebrow at that. "Don't you think I would have found that out by now since I went to the HQ?"

Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head nervously. He looked up at Jiraiya with a nervous grin. "I sort of...thought you would have been peeping on women for your Icha Icha books."

To Naruto's surprise again, the Toad Sannin did not get upset. "This is far more important than my books Naruto. As close as you said we were in your visions, I thought you would have known that I can be serious when need be."

Naruto looked down at that. Jiraiya had a point. But what was Naruto supposed to say? He hadn't actually spent time with Jiraiya. Even with the emotions from his visions, there was still a small wall of awkwardness that they were conversing as if they HAD known each other for years.

"I'm sorry." Naruto apologized dejectedly. Jiraiya put a hand on his head.

"It's alright gaki. Besides, what do you think shadow clones are for?" Jiraiya smirked and Naruto's eyes widened. Not even a second later, female screams were heard coming from the Konoha public bath.


As Naruto and Kakashi talked, Sakura had been thinking of Ino. Regardless of what everyone thought, Ino and Sakura were still best friends. They bickered and fought all the time, but if push came to shove, they would have each others back in a heartbeat. Sakura had been terrified when she thought Ino was dead and the way the medics covered her body didn't help. This was once again driving Sakura to realize that she would have lost someone else she cared about in the blink of an eye. First Naruto, and then Ino. Though they had been under two completely different circumstance, Sakura couldn't ignore the signs all about her.

She needed to get serious, and fast.

Sakura's fist clenched as she looked up to see Naruto glancing at her for a moment. She didn't blush that time, having realized that she still knew nothing of him. As she looked towards Sasuke, she could say the same thing about him too. With a sigh, she began to walk towards the Uchiha. Sasuke was sitting with his back to a tree and arm on one of his knees. He seemed to be deep in thought, but took note of Sakura's approach. Sakura could see his brow furrow in annoyance and he was about to open his mouth to ask what she wanted, but to his surprise, Sakura spoke up first.

"Shut up Sasuke-kun." She snapped, though it wasn't a yell. "Even if I wanted absolutely nothing at all, you should at least be willing to hear what you're teammate is going to say! You never know when you may just end up alone, and then having someone at all to talk would seem like a blessing."

Sasuke's eyes widened and his jaw fell open. Even more, Sakura was still leveling a glare at him letting him know he hadn't misheard what she had said. For the first time ever, Sasuke didn't answer Sakura not because he didn't feel like it, he simply couldn't find out what to say after that.

"Now, if you're willing to listen, I want to spar Sasuke-kun." Sakura folded her arms and looked Sasuke dead in the eye. At those words, Sasuke finally found his voice.

"Why?" Was all he could get out. Sakura blushed and looked down. She didn't really know why. It was an impulsive question, especially since she was trying her hardest to view Sasuke as just a teammate and nothing more at the moment. After taking just a few seconds to think about why she would want to spar with him, she realized her answer.

"It's because you're the rookie of the year. You're the strongest of our class, so if I want to be a great kunoichi, I need to see where I am myself. I know Kakashi-sensei will be teaching us, but I want to know for myself where I am, and the best way to do that is to fight someone stronger than me.."

A small pall of silence followed with Sakura looking into Sasuke's eyes and Sasuke noticing that Sakura was definitely changing. She wasn't the same fangirl that had continuously tried to get a date from him in the classroom. It reminded him of the few days prior when she had asked him to help her with her kunai aim. This time seemed far more serious than that even.

"Fine, but we should get permission from Kakashi-sensei first. Know that I won't hold back either."

Sakura nodded and smiled. "I understand. The enemy won't hold back in a real life situation so I don't expect you to either."

Only a few seconds later and the two saw Naruto leaving the field. Kakashi shunshined over to them at the same time and saw the confused looks on their faces.

"Don't worry, I'm just sending Naruto to get some kunai and such since he didn't bring them."

Sakura and Sasuke sweat dropped. Naruto was still Naruto at the end of the day. To Kakashi's surprise though, Sakura didn't scream out and call Naruto a baka.

"Ano, sensei. Will it be alright if me and Sasuke had a quick spar. It's something personal for me. Something that I truly need to see." Sakura was looking at Kakashi with a confidence that he definitely had not expected to see anytime soon. In all honesty, the look Sakura was giving him reminded him of the images of her he had seen within Naruto's eyes.

"I suppose that would be fine, if you're sure Sakura." Kakashi was interested to see how this would turn out as well. Sakura nodded with the same confidence and Kakashi saw Sasuke look at the girl with respect.

The two genin took their positions opposite of each other as Kakashi stood aside, actually watching instead of reading his book. "Begin!" He called and instantly both genin acted.

Sasuke threw several shuriken at Sakura, and immediately went into a familiar set of hand signs. He was trying to end the match in a flash, proving that he was serious when he told Sakura he wouldn't hold back.

Sakura, having been obsessed with Sasuke since she had learned of the Uchiha massacre was familiar with the tactic he had used. It was something he had always done in the academy to defeat his opponents swiftly. He would launch shuriken at the opponent to cause a distraction and then perform,

"Housenka!" Sasuke called and began launching small fireballs not at, but around Sakura's general vicinity.

Just as he had expected, Sakura dodged and before she could land, he was already shooting the attack. To his surprise, he didn't see Sakura panic like most people did when he used that tactic. Instead, Sakura landed in the midst of the flames and just launched kunai at him. She was sweating from the heat, but it did not deter her from attacking. Sasuke cursed as his plan had been foiled. After the foe was surrounded by the flames, Sasuke usually went in fast to get the foe to surrender while they were too busy being scared of the flames.

Kicking out of his thoughts to dodge the kunai Sakura had thrown, Sasuke was surprised to feel a hard kick to his back.

Kakashi's one visible eye widened in shock. Sakura had performed a substitution with one of the kunai she had thrown, but Sasuke never noticed because she had already performed a simple bunshin jutsu while he was surprised that his trick hadn't worked.

Sasuke flipped forward onto his hands before hand springing upright to face Sakura. He took more of his own shuriken out and launched them at the girl, however, his eyes widened again as Sakura threw a few smoke pellets into the ground in front of her. Sasuke knew his shuriken didn't hit their mark in the smoke but he also knew what Sakura would do next.

As he expected, shuriken flew out of the smoke at him. Sasuke whipped out a kunai and deflected them all, however, to his surprise once again, a smoke cloud suddenly enveloped him.

Kakashi was impressed. The shuriken that Sakura had thrown had small smoke pellets lodged in their center, most likely inserted into them while she had the first smoke screen covering her movements. When Sasuke deflected them, he activated them. This was definitely nothing like the girl he thought he would be training just a few short days ago. Even more, from Naruto's explanation of their trip to Wave and the Chunin exams, this was more than she had done in both of those scenarios combined.

'But now what will you do Sakura?' Kakashi thought.

Sakura was sweating and panting heavily as the smoke pellets erupted around Sasuke. She smiled for a moment but groaned as she realized that there was nothing else she could do. If she had known any other jutsu besides the three basic academy jutsu, she may have been able to attack while the smoke was there. However, she just stood still and let it clear, finding Sasuke standing with the kunai in his hand in a defensive stance. When he saw that Sakura was making no move towards him or at all, he rose an eyebrow in confusion and relaxed.

"What's wrong?" He asked, panting just a slight bit. Sakura smiled sadly.

"That's all I've got Sasuke-kun. I can't do anything else. You would have easily deflected anything else I sent at you even in the smoke. I wasn't fast enough to rush in and start a taijutsu battle, and even if I were, you'd beat me in two seconds flat. Without any other ninjutsu besides what we learned in the academy, the only thing I had left to do was flee in a real life situation."

"She's right." Kakashi said as he began to walk over. "She has no jutsu that would reach you, but we can change that. And in this situation, you were the one to make the mistakes Sasuke."

"What? What mistakes?" Sasuke asked angrily.

"You could have won if you would have aimed your attack AT Sakura, not around her. Plus, she was able to counter you so effectively because she knew your strategy. You can't use the same techniques over and over again and expect them to work for every opponent. If the enemy has intel on you and your comrades, it would make things like that useless."

As Sasuke fumed, Sakura frowned a bit. "B-but I was the one who lost Kakashi-sensei."

"The way that you utilized your tools were really creative and effective Sakura, and if that were a situation where you needed to flee, you would have succeeded. A battle is not always about defeating the foe. Sometimes it's just about staying alive." Kakashi placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder and eye smiled. "That was more than I expected Sakura, and from it, I know exactly what I need to train you both in."

Sasuke looked at Sakura and Kakashi with the traces of anger still evident on his face. However, as he took a deep breath and remembered what had just happened he looked at Sakura with the same respect that he had earlier. 'That was pretty cool...' He thought, though he would never admit it. Never had he thought Sakura of all people would keep him on his toes. Even though he hadn't been fighting with the intent to seriously hurt her, he had expected her to go down just as easily as all the others had in the academy. She was proving that she, just as Naruto, wasn't going to be as useless as he first thought. He thought back to what Sakura had said before their short skirmish. 'Comrades huh? Doesn't sound that bad.'


Ino was watching the things happening with Naruto again. After having viewed a good share of his memories, she hadn't wanted to be around Naruto's parents or the Kyubi for a while. She wanted to see first hand what Naruto went through. Though, she figured now that he had seen the future, things would be different anyway. There was so much that she wanted to talk to him about, and so much that she still had to sort through in her own mind. One of the things she did think of was the fact that Naruto was trying to find out how to ask Hinata to be with him. At first, she would have been ecstatic that Naruto was finally giving the Hyuga heiress a chance. However, a part of Ino, one that she could admit to herself was only discovered recently, wanted to see what her future would be like if Naruto's visions of them together came true.

'I'm crushing on Naruto...' She mumbled to herself. Knowing it was just that, Ino was frustrated that the feeling had even arrived at all. 'I should just be his friend, and see what happens from there.' The reasonable side of her said. Kushina's words kept her grounded in that belief as well.

'I think both you and Sakura need to take some time to understand what being a kunoichi is first before you think about dating.'

Ino knew she was right. One hundred percent right. When she thought about the few powerful kunoichi that she knew, especially from Naruto's memories, they hadn't gotten that powerful from running after a crush. Tsunade didn't really count because she didn't become strong in the true aspect of the word until Naruto brought her back to the village. Just because she was a Sannin and had physical strength, she was emotionally fucked.

Kurenai was an excellent kunoichi, though she had her single specialty. It was only when she started openly dating Asuma did her ninja career truly end. Asuma-sensei, Ino noted with annoyance, was a terrible sensei. But she couldn't really blame him. Just as he had told Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji, they were going to be trained in their clan jutsu mostly and all he could do was teach them basic teamwork exercises. Being inside of Naruto made Ino realize, "That's stupid. We should work on things outside of our clan too so we can have a wider range of skills."

That brought her to the other kunoichi. Shizune was a Jonin, and a powerful one at that. If it weren't for the fact that she was latched to Tsunade's side all the time, Ino was sure Shizune would have been strong enough to become a pseudo-sannin.

Anko was powerful in lots of areas and her snakes made her the most deadly active kunoichi in the village at the moment. She wasn't pursuing any relationships, she knew, but Naruto had very few encounters with the woman anyway.

'Wait a minute, what about Hinata?' Ino thought.

Hinata had become powerful because she liked Naruto.

'No...' Ino realized. 'Not because she liked him. It was because she was in love with him. Not a petty crush like me and Sakura had for Sasuke, or even for Naruto right now. Kushina-sama was definitely right. We need to focus on being real Kunoichi.'

Ino would start paying attention to Naruto's surrounding again as she realized that he and Jiraiya had begun their search for Iruka. This also made Ino worry. Naruto had another vision about Iruka being attacked by Mizuki, and then a voice had echoed inside of his head saying that things weren't meant to be changed. Kurama, Minato, nor Kushina had a clue what it was.

'Focus!' Ino thought and watched the world through Naruto's eyes again. They were approaching the academy. Ino figured Iruka-sensei did daily checks on the building, and set up for the incoming students when he had time as well. As far as she knew, the academy wasn't supposed to get new students for a couple of months.

It didn't take long for Naruto and Jiraiya to arrive at Iruka's main homeroom. The teacher was reading through several scrolls piled upon his desk and didn't look up immediately when the two had entered. Ino sweatdropped at the man. He was a chunin, shouldn't he be paying more attention to his surroundings?

"Come on out Iruka." Jiraiya suddenly called. The man that was sitting at the desk suddenly faded away, showing that it was just a simple bunshin. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, and Ino herself took in a small breath of air.

'It was just a clone? How could I fall for something so simple?'

Even more surprising, Iruka would appear as if fading into existence, sitting in one of the seats for the students. He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, resemblance of his favorite blonde student. "Sorry Jiraiya-sama. After the Mizuki incident, I've been being more cautious. Maybe I'm a bit paranoid."

"How did you do that Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked with a hint of excitement. Jiraiya chuckled.

"It was just a bunshin and cloaking jutsu. You were even able to mask your chakra pretty well. I didn't sense you right away." Jiraiya was impressed. "You ever think about advanced stealth training Iruka?"

Iruka paled, wondering if Jiraiya knew the truth about his past. However, he was saved from answering by Naruto.

"Ero-sennin, we're getting off topic. Iruka-sensei, we actually came here to tell you about Mizuki."

"What about him?" Iruka became serious, his fist clenching subconsciously. Iruka had trusted Mizuki almost like a brother.

Naruto went on to explain his most recent vision and the voice in his head. Ino listened intently, still finding it hard to believe that the calm and collected Naruto was still the same one from the academy. Everything was just so weird, and after Naruto finished his explanation, Ino decided it time to head back within his subconscious.

She didn't enjoy hitchhiking in Naruto's body, nor did she enjoy being privy to private information that he would have never shared with her in any other situation. But that was just it. Naruto had been having visions and she was apart of a good deal of them. In that case, didn't that make her sort of entitled to this knowledge?

"You're not entitled to anything Ino. You have to stop thinking like that." Kushina's voice startled Ino, as she realized she was already in front of the Kyubi's cage. Pausing for a moment, Ino took in the sight before her.

"Kushina-sama...what the heck is that?"

Kushina was currently sitting in a chair upon the wrap around deck of a western styled house. It was large and painted several shades of yellow and orange. It two stories high and had the spiral of the Uzumaki clan atop the roof.

"It's a house, Ino. Haven't you seen one before?" Kushina deadpanned.

"Not that! That color scheme is terrible! Eww, I'm not gonna live in that!"

Kushina face palmed and leveled a hard glare at the platinum blonde. "Ino, Naruto where's orange and has blonde hair. You're pretty much staying in the same place anyway."

Ino could only stare in disbelief at the older woman's logic. Actually, there was no logic to any of this. It still made no sense!

"Where's the Yondaime?" Ino asked while walking towards the terribly colored house.

"He and Kurama went deeper into Naruto's subconscious to see if they can find out what that voice was." Kushina stood and opened the door to the house for Ino after indicating the open cell of the Kyubi's cage. It still unnerved Ino that the two allowed Kyubi freeroam of their sons mind.

"Do you think it will hel-" Before Ino could finish her sentence, she noticed Kushina tense. "Kushi-"

Without a word, Kushina made her chakra chains wrap around Ino and tossed her into the house, following and slamming the door shut immediately. Ino landed in a foyer, groaning in minute pain before sitting up with a confused and miffed gaze. Kushina had moved to a window, peering out of it with a stern look on her face. Ino would have voiced her disapproval of Kushina's handling of her until she heard a voice outside of the home. Kushina looked at Ino for a small moment before holding a finger to her lip, alerting Ino that she needed to remain quiet. Then she motioned for Ino to approach the window.

When Ino looked outside, she noticed...an ANBU?

"What's going on?" Ino whispered to the flame haired Uzumaki.

"Root." Was Kushina's reply. "And they have a Yamanaka."


A/N I don't know what it's going to take to find that drive or moment when it all comes together good again. I'm seriously struggling through these chapters right now. The lack of time and sleep is never good for one's creative juices.

Anyway, I know there were some glaringly different things with this chapter, some of which I'm still not too sure of myself. I'm only testing ideas here, and nothing of the above reflects my personal preferences much. One of these such ideas is something I'm going to need your help with.

The Hinata part seems like it may have come out of nowhere, but there were two ideas I've had since I've written Dark Destiny. So I would like for you, my readers, to choose which route I take with it. They are below.

Option 1. The first idea was to have it so Hinata's mother was pregnant with her during the Kyubi attack. Hinata's mother would have either been injured by the Kyubi or suffered from trace amounts of chakra poisoning from the Kyubi. Because of this, Hinata's mother didn't die until Hanabi's birth, in which her body could not handle the stress anymore. Hinata, in turn, would have been born with a slight affinity of the Kyubi's chakra. (I mean come on, two people ate the Kyubi's stomach and got his chakra, this seems a little more plausible right?) So when Naruto kissed her, it stirred the little bit of Kyubi's chakra that was inside of her, leading her to become aggressive when she was upset.

Option 2. The second idea, which I admit was just a random thought I had for another fanfiction actually, is that because of Naruto constantly seeing the future and changing it, a small ripple is happening over the dimension or timeline, whichever you want to use. This ripple is having adverse effects on several of the possible futures, and in this case, it's making Hinata slowly channel the Hinata from the Road to Ninja Movie. (If you don't know what that is, SPOILER: Naruto and Sakura were sent into a test of the infinite tsukiyomi in which most of the characters from the Naruto universe had their opposite traits. In this world, Hinata was brash, confident, and a bit violent. She even threatened Sakura to stay away from Naruto.) If I go this route, it will just eventually make me use an arc in which Naruto and perhaps a few others either go to this other world, or the worlds end up becoming accessible to one another.

Both of the ideas were actually meant to be used for other fanfictions, but I would at least like to test one of them here.

Thank you old and new readers, and hopefully I can get a better chapter up faster than this.